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When you eat foods that need to be chewed your stomach churns to digest them. This churning of the stomach can cause the band to slip. A period of time is required for the band to settle into place, stitches to heal etc which is why the Dr's prescribe liquid and mushy diets post op. So there you have it - in a nutshell - no lectures!

Well as yogurt is dairy it contains lactose which of course is a type of sugar. But it is the added sugars you need to look out for. There are plenty of yogurts available that are artificially sweetened. Be careful with Greek yogurt. It tastes divine, is unsweetened but it is also very high in fat. I am sure it is Ok in small quantities but you don't want to eat too much of it.

I know how everyone feels. At this stage I seem to be fighting to lose every kilo. The first 2 months went really well, the next 3 months I averaged 1.9kg a month and the last 3 weeks I have battled to lose 0.6! (NB I am working on a month being 4 weeks as its easier to weigh on the same day weekly and then I don't have some long and some short months. I have lost a total of 18.3kg(40.25lb) since my heighest preop weight earlier this year. I have approx 3.2kg(7lb) to go to goal. I look so much better, I feel great and i keep discovering clothes in my wardrobe that fit that I had forgotten about.Which makes me laugh as I just read something about decluttering in a magazine and it says if you haven't worn something for 2 years you are unlikely to wear it. that is SO not true! I don't have Thanksgiving to worry about but i am going on holiday for 6 weeks in Dec/Jan. Back to South Africa to see my mum and my sister. Trying not to gain weight then is going to be REALLY hard.

Sorry to hear that the band doesn't seem to be working for you. Are you following the rules? Not drinking with meals or for an hour afterwards. Eating proper nutritious food at meal times. Not drinking your calories. Not snacking or picking on food constantly throughout the day. Not eating high cal slider foods because maybe you are too tight and they are the only thing that you can get down Exercising etc. You have to be honest with yourself. If you can honestly say that you are following all the rules then you may be in the small percentage of people for whom the band for some reason does not work. Maybe banding was the wrong surgery for you and maybe you need to consider revising to something that has malabsorption as well. But you also have to remember that the band is only a tool and we have to learn to operate it correctly. If you are expecting "restriction" to stop you from making bad food choices it won't. The band does not do all the work. A lot of the restriction still has to come from your head and your choices. So you need to look at what you are doing and be totally honest with yourself. Is the band not working for you or are you not working the band? Maybe you need to think about seeing a psych that specalises in eating issues. I am not saying that this is your problem but it may be. I hope that you manage to work out what the problem is and that you start having success.

Count yourself lucky that chips hurt. For me they are a slider and I can eat stacks with no problem.I think I would much rather not be able to eat them at all.

Your schedule seems fairly normal. Whether or not you experience "bandster hell" is a very individual thing. 4 weeks of liquids is quite a long time and you could easily start feeeling very hungry.

I am wondering if there are other people like me who after many years have realised that the weight they were once aiming for was totally ridiculous and are sad about all the years wasted trying to get to some unachievable figure? I am 153cm tall( approx 5'). I currently weigh 55.5kg(122lb).My final goal is about 52kg(115lb). My body is not perfect - I have small hips, adequate bust and a bit of a stomach. But I feel fantastic. Yet I spent most of my teens,twenties and thirties at a lower weight than this and was permanently on a diet.I would go to programs such as Weight Watchers, Weigh less, Sure Slim and the goal I was given was normally around 45 - 48kg. I always felt fat and yes some ex boyfriends didn't help. I probably managed to get to 47kg a couple of times but I never managed to stay there for long. I probably permanently messed up my metabolism with the constant yoyo dieting. Maybe its because I'm older and "wiser" that i have now come to the realisation that the weight i was aiming for was not the correct weight for me. I just wish that at the time I had appreciated my body and not spent so much time, money and energy aiming for something that was not realistic.

Be careful. Firstly a diuretic makes you lose Fluid so it's not real weight that you are losing. Secondly taking them when not prescribed and supervised can lead to all sorts of problems not least of which are kidney problems. If your dr has prescribed them great, if not tell your dr what you are doing and see if he/she thinks it is OK to keep taking them. Most of us have spent years putting all kinds of weird chemicals into our bodies hoping that they will help us win the battle against fat. Now we have a tool to help us that means we don't need to put unnecessary chemicals into our bodies.We need to learn to use the tool correctly - even if sometimes the loss is slower than we would like.

Hi Sarah I think you need a small unfill. I was in a similar situation to you and PBing on everything including tinned salmon.i went a week ago and got .25ml taken out.It is such a relief to be able to eat without pain or getting stuck

I think that they are probably both as good as each other. You should pick the surgeon rather than the band and go with the surgeon that you feel most comfortable with. People with the Realize band seem to have to have more Fluid in than people with the Lapband before they feel restriction.( Not saying this is good or bad). Both have good online support. Although Realize promote their website and support as a selling point if you actually go into Lapbands site and join my Lapband Journey there is good support there too. Whatever you decide do make sure that your surgeon uses the latest band available. I believe there are some surgeons that use older bands as they are using up old stock. I know i wouldn't be happy with this - I want the latest , most improved etc etc product that is currently available. Whatever you decide good luck .

I asked my fill Dr and she said it is fine so long as it doesn't cause me any discomfort. Some people apparently can't handle it but if it's not uncomfortable then its fine. I have one occaisonally when I am out.Most restaurants offer little other than water that is low cal, so if I don't feel like a glass of wine I figure a diet coke is better than orange juice or something similar.

Firm fat!!!! Isn't that an oxymoron?

Sounds like you are too tight. Soft and mushy foods should go down easily. What you should be aiming to eat is solid Protein as this is what your band is designed to work with. If by crunchy foods you mean foods such as crackers and crisps they will go down easily no matter how tight you are as they are slider foods. they dissolve before they get to the stoma and being able to eat these is not an indicator that you are not tight enough. I think you should go back to your Dr and get some Fluid taken out.

I'm confused. How long is this needle? The one that is used on me just looks like a normal needle. Usually they get my port first attempt but last week it took 2. Dr found it easier to find with me lying flat whereas previously I have always had to do a crunch.Must have something to do with having lost weight.

I think I look far better with long hair. I've had it short, bob length and various other styles but when I look at the pics now I think it makes me look older.I know they say that as you get older you should get rid of the long hair but in my case shorter makes me look older. My husband and kids both agree that long hair suits me far better. Long and straight can be boring I agree but it looks good when I take the time to straighten it. I also find it cooller in summer as you can tie it up out of the way.Short hair tends to hang around your face and make you hot unless its cropped all over.

I went for a slight unfill last week and got told that my weight was the same as at my fill 3 weeks previously. That both confused and annoyed me. Yes I know I weigh more on the dr's scales than my own but according to my scales I had lost 1.5kg in those 3 weeks so surely the Dr's should have shown the same even though it would have been higher? It took the wind right out of my sails! However I know that eating isn't going to help so I am resisting that temptation.It's hard but you can do it.

Love it. Glad to hear that even supermodels need help.

This is a question that has been asked a number of times but has still not been properley answered. I asked my fill Dr and was told that the food doesn't sit in the band as long as we think which is why we get that instant feeling when we are stuck. This just confused me more as it seems to go against how we have been told the band works.

I started with a BMI of just under 32. I am 153cm and my heighest weight ever was 74kg in Jan this year. I was 72.5 at start of preop diet and 70kg on surgery day 2 June. It is now 5 months later and I weigh 56.5kg. A total loss of 17.5kg. I am no longer obese, not even overweight. I still have approx another 4kg to go to my goal. the weight loss now is fairly slow - I can go for weeks without my scales moving at all but i am sure that this is because I am so close to goal. I would do this again in an instant. I have lost weight many times before and always regained it. However for the past 4 years I have struggled to even lose it.I know that I could not have achieved this without the band.

Are there any companies out there that offer travel ins with a band? I live in Australia, am travelling to South Africa for 6 weeks in Dec/Jan. Not DEEPEST DARKEST AFRICA LOL - 1st world, world class medical facilities - Africa. I have spoken to a number of insurers that cover pre-existing conditions(even though the BAND is not a condition) and for some reason they all seem to exclude the band.Most of them have a blanket exemption on anything you have had surgery for in the past 24 months. Well yes I had the band placed in June but that was elective and I was healthy not sick at the time. As a result of that surgery I am now even healthier - I have a normal BMI, I'm neither obese nor even overweight.But they don't seem to look at individual circumstances or understand what the band is does. In all probability everything will probably be fine and I won't need insurance but isn't that the whole point. You insure just in case. If anyone can point me in the direction of someone that can help I would be highly appreciative.

No I still have to get up countless times at night. I wish someone would come up with a solution as I am always tired from the lack of proper sleep.

You've lost 70lbs - the weight is falling off. There will be times when you lose lots and others when you don't lose for a while. It's perfectly normal. Just keep doing what you are doing and relax. Congrats on your amazing loss so far.

I hope it was YOUR Dr that told you that it wasn't required. If it was great , you are lucky. If it wasn't your Dr that told you this and maybe something you decided from reading another Dr's requirements on this site then you need to speak to your Dr.Requirements from one Dr to another vary vastly. But always remember to follow the instructions of the one that you are paying and trusting with your surgery. All the best.

LOL I had to follow my own advice yesterday. Could eat just about anything prior to my last fill 3 weeks ago but still got hungry inbetween meals so had a small fill of .3ml. I have PB'd or got stuck far too often in the last 3 weeks. I would start eating and feel as though there was some kind of lump in my throat preventing the food going down. I PB'd foods that should have been easy such as tinned fish, mince etc . I thought it would get better but it didn't so yesterday I admitted defeat and got an unfill of .25ml. That means my total fill is probably around 3ml but I don't know exactly as my Dr's do not take the fill amount out to check as it is now believed that that can cause problems. It felt so much better to be able to eat proper food without discomfort. I believe I still have restriction as I am still only able to eat less than preband. I think one of the problems is the 3 meals a day and no Snacks philosophy that a lot of Dr's adhere to. I believe that this is unrealistic. Yes I can go for 4 hours without getting hungry which gets me from breakfast to lunch but lunch to dinner is normally about 7 hours and this I can't manage without a snack.So long as it is healthy I don't see this as a major problem.

In theory the sweet spot sounds great but in reality I believe it may be elusive. I think a lot of bandsters end up too tight chasing some notional sweet spot where they can eat small amounts and not be hungry between meals. I think a lot of it is still down to good choices and a degree of self control. I had approx 3.5ml in my 10ml band. Could eat just about anything prior to my last fill 3 weeks ago but still got hungry inbetween meals so had a small fill of .3ml. I have PB'd or got stuck far too often in the last 3 weeks. I would start eating and feel as though there was some kind of lump in my throat preventing the food going down. I PB'd foods that should have been easy such as tinned fish, mince etc . I thought it would get better but it didn't so yesterday I admitted defeat and got an unfill of .25ml. That means my total fill is probably around 3 but I don't know exactly as my Dr's do not take the fill amount out to check as it is now believed that that can cause problems. It felt so much better to be able to eat proper food without discomfort. I believe I still have restriction as I am still only able to eat less than preband. I think one of the problems is the 3 meals a day and no snacks philosophy that a lot of Dr's adhere to. I believe that this is unrealistic. Yes I can go for 4 hours without getting hungry which gets me from breakfast to lunch but lunch to dinner is normally about 7 hours and this I can't manage without a snack.So long as it is healthy I don't see this as a major problem.